“Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold.”
So wrote W. B. Yeats in his poem “The Second Coming” in 1919. The Great War had laid Europe waste. A whole generation counted itself “lost,” disillusioned with the institutions that were supposed to be the foundations of human civilization. The flu pandemic was still killing tens of millions.
Now, in this virus-haunted Advent of 2020, I feel the same way. Things fall apart. The institutions that I had thought would forever support my world are now ever so shaky. Church as I had known it, country as I had known it, are all so fragile now. Even the world and its seasons are fragile: does it ever snow in the mountains anymore, or will the warming of this world pass the point of no return? The center cannot hold.
Psalm 89 was written during such a time. Verses 1-4 and 19-26 remember a time when David was King and God was his Rock and all was right with the world. But the latter part of the psalm laments the end of those days. Jerusalem has fallen. God has “renounced the covenant” and “hurled his (the king’s) throne to the ground.” “How long, O Lord? Will you hide yourself forever?” (v. 46 NRSV).
We read this psalm during Advent to remind us that all the human powers and kingdoms that we thought were the foundations of our lives are but shifting sand. The one foundation of our lives is the One who was born among us, the One who turned out to be the eternal heir to David’s throne. And now, “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and for ever” (Rev. 11:15 KJV).
Prayer:
Mysterious God, let this be my prayer today: “On Christ the solid Rock I stand; All other ground is sinking sand, All other ground is sinking sand.” Amen.
